1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a system to counter the effect of the wind to sway a high rise structure and to dampen oscillation in restoring equilibrium to the structure.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There is a good deal of interest in the construction of supertall or high rise structures, such as office buildings, to heights as from 150 to 200 stores or more and considerable attention is focused upon the control of wind sway of such structures and of the dampening of the resulting oscillation.
With reference to the prior art, E. A. Proctor in his U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,232,012 discloses the use of a slack cable across the side of a building which carries a weight which will be caused to fall by a severe wind until the slack in the cable is taken up and the cable becomes a taut brace.
J. F. McDermott in his U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,538,659 shows the use of steel columns about a building supporting horizontal struts to cause the building to resist bending and swaying.
Milton Meckler in his U.S. Letters Pat. No. 3,796,017 shows the use of tubular structural elements filled with fluid under hydraulic distributions to absorb lateral and vertical shocks and to stiffen the structure elements.
F. E. Langford in his U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,011,694 discloses a guy wire supported tower using a hydraulic assembly to operate pistons to alter the length of the guys to prevent tension from exceeding the load bearing strength of a guy.
E. M. Runquist in his U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,713 relates to a tubular mast held steady by guy wires from its mast-top and played out by a take up reel remotely controlled. A tilt of the mast is indicated by surrounding photo sensitive materials which indicate direction of tilt and when vertical a central cell generates a signal. A remote operator mans a remote winch to adjust the guys to make the mast erect.
S. F. Masri in his U.S. Letters Pat. No. 4,429,496 relates to reducing the vibration of a structure when subjected to transient forces by use of a sensor in circuit with a pulse generator which produces a unilateral directional thrust to limit vibration stress in reaction to shock to disorganize or dampen harmonic motion.
The above listed patents appear to be representative of the patented art in regard to the wind sway control of structures.